


Necessary Son

by lurker85



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Colonialism, Dysfunctional Family, Family Drama, Father-Son Relationship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-09
Updated: 2015-02-09
Packaged: 2018-03-11 07:51:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3319763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lurker85/pseuds/lurker85
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An old k-meme fill, cleaned up a bit.  The prompt: </p>
<p>Was reading the Aussie history books the other day and while reading I was horrified to find... Australia wasn't intended to be colonized.  well yea it eventually was</p>
<p>If America hadn't declared independence, Australia would have been colonized much later. It was only in a frantic attempt to move all the convicts from America that they eventually decided to use Australia as a prison ground.  Anon here wants an England who isn't all that happy with meeting Australia. Whether England acts happy to not hurt Australia or makes it blatant that he thinks that Australia is good for nothing and still wishes America was his colony is up to Writer!Anon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Necessary Son

Botany Bay, April, 1770  
  
It's far from ideal, England muses as he walks the shoreline.  Colonising this place would be expensive and risky - Terra Australis would be by far the most isolated of his colonies, and the distance would make the cost of establishing and supporting any settlement prohibitively high.  Still, it has promise.  While he has seen natives, there are no signs of permanent villages or cities, no Nation has come forth to greet him, and for some reason the botanists are terribly excited about the native flora.  
  
A second scientific expedition is probably warranted, but with America prospering so well since the end of the French-Indian wars, he has no pressing need for another colony. This place can wait a few decades.  
  
He easily ignores the toddler sleeping under the shade of a tree.

  
  
  
Paris, September, 1783  
  
It's done.  
  
The Treaty of Paris is signed, America's independence made official.  His boy (only he's not anymore, is he?) beams, and France's smile shows just how much he's enjoying England's misery.  
  
He storms out of the Hotel d'York, scattering pedestrians in his wake.  The _nerve_ of the boy!  He throws everything England has ever done for him away like trash, takes up arms against the man who raised him, and now - now that he has what he wants, now that he has taken England's pride and affection and crushed them beneath his heel - now he wants him to _pose for a painting_ so that England can be forever reminded of his loss.  
  
England refuses to believe America is that stupidly insensitive.  Only malice could rub salt in his wounds so effectively.  
  
He feels like he's just buried someone he loves.

  
  
  
London, March 1784  
  
The loss of America is a blow on many levels.  
  
Quite aside from the grief he feels, losing to his young colony has hit his military reputation hard.  He can see France, Spain and the Netherlands circling his navies, looking for weakness, the vultures.  The trade coming in from America had been lucrative, too, and its loss stings.  
  
And last of all, there are the convicts.  
  
"Now that we can no longer use America for penal transportation, the prisons are getting critically overcrowded," Lord Sydney says.  "This may seem the least of our problems, but Mr Matra has outlined a solution to many of our difficulties that in fact relies on our convict population."  
  
It's elegant enough, if risky.  Found a British settlement in Botany Bay, using convict labour instead of slaves (it's cheaper).  Botany Bay, once established, can then be used to trade with New Zealand and Norfolk Island for flax and timber, and can also be used as a military port against the Dutch East Indies and Spain's South American colonies should war arise.  Three birds killed with one stone, as it were.  
  
England can't say he particularly wanted another colony, especially so soon, but needs must.

  
  
  
Botany Bay, January 1788  
  
When he stands on the shoreline this time, he does not ignore the boy in the bushes.  
  
"Come out at once," he says as soon as he hears the rustle.  "I know you're there."  
  
There's a moment's silence before the boy toddles out, grinning joyously despite England's stern demeanour.  He babbles happily and reaches out for England when he moves to pick him up.  
  
England examines the child closely.  There's no trace of France on this one at all, no blue eyes or blond hair.  Terra Australis looks like England in miniature, green eyes, thick eyebrows and all.  
  
"Daaaa!" squeals Australia happily, and England flinches.  
  
"No." It's out of his mouth, quick and harsh, before he's even thought about it.  This boy is not family, and no amount of affection will make him such (not again.)  He will not be moved by puppy eyes and a crestfallen face.  
  
Said crestfallen face has now buried itself in his jacket, sniffling.  England sighs, and pats him on the back as he walks back to the main settlement.  "There there, I'm sorry," he says, even if the boy can't understand him yet.  "I suppose it's not your fault things have turned out like this."  
  
As necessary sons go, at least Australia is properly loyal to the Empire.  Still, he refuses the temptation to become attached, to allow himself to respond to Australia's open affection.  He had done that with America, and look where it got him.  And this was a penal colony, not a free settlement!  Better by far to keep the child at arm's length.  
  
He leaves his colony in the care of Governor Phillip, and returns home.  He does not look back.

**Author's Note:**

> And thus begins two centuries of Oz chasing England for parental affection.
> 
> Treaty of Paris: The painting England refers to is this one:  
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Treaty_of_Paris_by_Benjamin_West_1783.jpg
> 
> The English delegation wanted no part of the painting, and thus it remains unfinished.
> 
> James Matra: An American loyalist who was part of the Endeavor's crew during the original expedition at Botany Bay. Along with Sir Joseph Banks, a scientist who was also on the Endeavour, he later argued for a permanent settlement in Australia. He is credited with having "provided the original blueprint for settlement in New South Wales".
> 
> Governor Arthur Phillip: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Phillip) was the first Governor of the colony of New South Wales.


End file.
